The 2017 La Romanée Grand Cru is characteristically impressive, unfurling in the glass with an extravagant bouquet of cassis, violets, dark chocolate, espresso roast, sweet spices, orange rind and rose hip that has integrated its lavish framing of new wood more completely than any other wine in the cellar. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and satiny with a deep, sapid core of concentrated fruit that largely conceals its broad structural shoulders, concluding with a pungently intense but subtly wood-inflected finish. This has the makings of a comparatively precocious vintage of La Romanée that will offer a broad drinking window.

Tasted blind, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair's 2015 La Romanée Grand Cru is simply extraordinary, dominating a flight of great grands crus. The wine wafts from the glass with an extraordinarily complex bouquet in which notes of cherries, cassis and orange rind mingle with fragrant aromas of rose petal and Asian spices, complemented by deeper, more savory bass notes of grilled squab, espresso roast and smoked duck. On the palate, it's full-bodied, multidimensional and complete, with amazing depth and dimension, juicy acids balancing a deep and concentrated core of fruit, and concluding with a long, reverberative finish. This is a powerful, even dramatic La Romanée that ranks as one of the pinnacles of this magical vintage.